6 Car Innovations that Are Right around the Corner

We hear a lot about tech innovations, but what about automobile innovations? In reality, our cars are becoming smarter and smarter. Like our phones and other devices, our cars are becoming a new force to be reckoned with in this day and age.

As technology improves, scientists and engineers are hoping to make cars safer and more advanced. It might sound like something out of a scientific movie, but we’re not far off from cars that drive themselves. Not to mention they look pretty cool too. Here are 6 car innovations that are right around the corner from reality.

1. Revved Up Interior

The interior of cars today is already becoming smarter. With things like Bluetooth integration to pair your smartphone, phone chargers, and even WiFi capabilities, it’s a wonder we’ve only reached the tip of the interior iceberg. Car interiors are quickly becoming hubs of technology.

Your dashboard no longer is a place for CDs and cassettes. Now, it’s possible to plug in your phone and have it fully interact with the car. From displaying your phone home screen on the touch screen to having in-phone applications. Though this technology still isn’t in most standard cars, it’s expected to be the new normal shortly.

2. Assisted Driving

We all wish we had a personal assistant who would drive us anywhere we wanted to go. While we might not all be able to afford a driver, cars today are starting to help us get from Point A to Point B. With distracted driving at an all-time high, this innovation couldn’t be more timely. In fact, more than half of all drivers admit to using their phones while on the road.

New features like alerts when a car is getting to close or monitoring your speed is helping make driving easier in a world full of distractions. Smartphone manufacturers are also helping this fight by enabling locks on phones when cars are in motion.

3. Improved Electric Cars

While electric cars seemed like a thing of the future only a few years ago, they’re finally becoming more mainstream. However, they’re not quite there yet. They still need to compete with internal combustion engine cars.

The new technology known as supercapacitors has the right energy density to push beyond the 300-mile limit of current electric cars. Elon Musk is already looking into developing supercapacitors over batteries.

Personalized Design

4. Personalized Design

Have you ever thought you had the perfect idea for a car design? Now it might be possible thanks to new technology. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is making it simpler for manufacturers to create customized features and designs. Rapid prototyping services mean you can have your new car design scaled quickly, and you’ll be ready to take it to an auto designer in no time. Try them out yourself with this technology.

5. Remote Control Cars

If you played with remote control cars in your youth, you might think this technology has no place in grown-up vehicles. In reality, it’s more useful than it sounds. Via smartphone apps, users will soon be able to control their cars from anywhere. Whether you want to turn on the A/C before unlocking the car on a hot day or if you need to lock your car on the go, this technology is changing the game.

Major automakers like Land Rover and Volvo are already developing this system. Audi is even creating a system for controlling your car without being inside through a smartwatch. Known as “escort mode,” the car can follow the driver at a limited speed within a short distance.

6. Inter-Vehicle Communication

Cars can’t talk to us, but they might be able to talk to each other. One of the hardest parts of being a safe driver is keeping an eye on all of the other cars on the road. With cars of the future, your car will be able to react to the cars around it via inter-communication.

Basically, your car will be notified if the car in front of you starts to slow down, for instance. You could get a notification before you even see a hazard coming up ahead. This makes the road a safer, well-connected place.

Conclusion

This isn’t science-fiction. This is real-life technology we already have, and it’s being used to build a better tomorrow. Humans have been using cars to get around for generations, but only small strides have gotten us to a safer space. With these innovations above, cars could become a reliable, eco-friendly, and secure way to travel.

We don’t know for sure where the future will take us, but we can count on cars being around for a long time. As long as humans still have somewhere to go, there will be a car to get us there.